Letting Go
by Syrus
Summary: An epilogue to Bittersweet Reunion from Maya's POV.


**Letting Go**

Maya Fey walked slowly away from the reception hall, still in her wedding dress. She knew that she probably should remove it, but in a strange way, she felt like she would be admitting to herself what had just happened if she did, and she didn't think she could make herself face that harsh reality just yet. She suddenly stopped in her tracks when Phoenix and Edgeworth caught her eye. She was too far away to tell what they were saying, but she could see them kissing and embracing, and then smiling as they quickly left The Tuin.

At this point, she couldn't stop the tears she was trying to hold in from pouring out on her cheeks. She could make no sense of her thoughts, the only thing she was aware of was her heart shattering as she watched them leave. At this point, Larry Butz approached her from behind. Maya kept from facing him, not wanting whoever came up behind her to see her crying this way, not knowing if she had the strength to face any questions or comments the guests at the wedding might have had.

Larry could see her shoulders shaking slightly as she cried, so he knew that she was very upset.

In a soft tone he said, "Hey…I…heard the news…about Nick and Edgey…"

Maya didn't turn or acknowledge his statement, but Larry thought he saw her shoulders shaking a bit more. Larry knew that he wasn't good at comfort, but he felt like he had to say or do something.

"Maya…" Larry said, walking around her so that she would be facing him, "I never expected something like this…"

Maya quickly turned her face away from Larry, but that didn't stop him from seeing her tears. He didn't know what he could say to her to make her feel better so he just started saying whatever came to mind, deciding saying anything would be better than saying nothing.

"Man, I guess if Nick liked Edgey like that...you just weren't his type of girl. But wait..." Larry suddenly cut off, looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said, "Then again...no girl would really be Nick's kind of girl since he seems to be into guys..."

All this statement earned was a sad smile from Maya. She glanced briefly at Larry, but she quickly looked away again when she felt another tumult of tears coming.

"I really…want to be happy for Nick…but…I just…" Maya tried to say, but she just abruptly broke down, trying to hide her face in her hands.

Larry almost felt panicked, not knowing at all what to do to console the sobbing girl in front of him.

"Awww…Maya, don't—don't cry!" Larry said in alarm, but Maya didn't seem to hear him.

Larry was feeling extremely uncomfortable with this, but he had to do something, feeling like he'd be a bad friend if he didn't. He settled on hesitantly approaching her, sloppily throwing his arms around her, and pulling her tightly against his chest. He felt Maya stiffen at first in surprise, but then she slowly relaxed against him, her tears then falling on his shirt.

Within a few minutes, Larry was extremely relieved to feel Maya stop shaking under her sobs and begin to calm down. Suddenly she spoke.

"You know, Larry…I really loved him…" Maya said softly, feeling incredibly spent, "I just feel so stupid for not realizing how Nick really felt about Mr. Edgeworth."

"Hey, I think it was Nick who was stupid to leave you," Larry said, speaking from his heart, hoping it would be enough to make Maya feel better, "Dude, Edgey is so boring, but you…you're…well…not. I mean, you really know how to have a good time, but Edgey…well, he…doesn't."

Larry paused thoughtfully for a moment and then continued, "Nick's just weird sometimes…sometimes I really don't understand him."

"Nick…" Maya whispered, mostly to herself, leaning heavily on Larry, feeling like all her strength was gone.

Maya thought that this would be the happiest day of her life, never imagining something like this would happen. Sure, she had some doubts about things, but she fully expected Phoenix to tell her that he really did love her, and that nothing would make him happier than marrying her. But instead, she found someone coming in and taking Phoenix away right in front of her eyes on her wedding day.

_It was the right thing to do, telling him to go…I could tell that he would have married me if that was what I wanted, but what good would that do either of us?_ Maya told herself, the pain she felt in her heart almost unbearable.

Finally she pushed her self away from Larry, feeling like it was taking everything in her not to just collapse and sob. Larry looked at her awkwardly, hoping that she was alright now.

Not looking directly at Larry, Maya softly said, "Thanks, Larry…"

With that, she began to approach the reception hall once again to finally change out of her wedding dress. But before she could get very far, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, Larry, I really am alright, you don't have to – " Maya started to say as she turned around, surprised to find Lisa Wright rather than Larry behind her.

Maya glanced behind Lisa and found Larry standing near them with both Anka and Bill Wright. She looked again at Lisa and tried desperately to keep the tears from returning to her eyes.

"How…are you feeling?" Lisa asked kindly and hesitantly, giving Maya a comforting look.

Maya avoided eye contact, just barely suppressing a sniffle and softly replied, "As good as can be expected, I guess…"

Lisa tried to give Maya as comforting a look as possible, speaking softly and carefully.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened…but I hope you know that this doesn't change anything I told you earlier." she said, giving Maya's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Maya looked up at Lisa, feeling incredibly touched.

"Really?" Maya asked in slight disbelief, surprised that Lisa said this even when her son so obviously loved someone else and she would not be her mother in law anymore.

"Of course." Lisa said, a small smile touching her face, gesturing toward Bill and Anka as she continued to speak, "When I said that we all consider you to be family, I really meant it, and we wouldn't take that back for anything."

Finally Bill approached them and spoke.

"She's right, Maya. We would never want to just cut you out of our lives that way." Bill said in a reassuring tone.

Maya then glanced to Anka's face and saw her nodding in agreement to what her father had said. All of them showing their support this way really did lift her spirits significantly and made a few happy tears slip from her eyes.

_I may not have Nick…but I'm not alone…_Maya thought, hear heart still feeling crushed, but yet, she felt just a tiny bit of hope that everything would be okay.

The last few of her tears glittered in her eyes, but she wiped them away. When she looked back at everyone, she found them looking at her slightly expectantly.

"Thanks…for making me feel like I belong…" Maya said softly, giving all of them a sad smile.

Larry walked over to Maya and clapped a hand on her shoulder to show his support, and he gave her a hesitant smile as well. As she looked at the faces around her, she decided that maybe, just maybe…she could make it through this.


End file.
